This invention relates to spectrographic instruments in general and more particularly pertains to high resolution diffraction gratings.
High resolution spectrographic instruments are required in many systems, for example IR modulators or chemical analyzers, requiring compact, rugged components. The most commonly used high resolution instruments are interferometers and diffraction gratings. Interferometers generally tend to be fragile and bulky thereby limiting their utility in the above-described systems. Diffraction gratings are rugged but heretofore the width of the grating had to be large in order to achieve high resolution. However, size restrictions imposed by a particular application may limit the resolving power of the grating. Additionally, as the size of the grating is increased the cost of the grating increases prohibitively due to the high-precision techniques required to manufacture the grating.